Can I make cabinet doors out of a single slab of wood?
MattoWoodworking
| Posted in Wood and Materials on
Hi,
I am currently making a media console ( tv stand) that is 170cm long x 40 cm wide and 45 tall out of walnut wood.
I am supposed to put in 3 doors, each door is 56 x 45 cm. I think it will look really good if i made all 3 doors from a single slab of walnut that is around 2,5 cm thick.
The question i have is whether i need to somehow reinforce the doors to prevent warping, as i dont have any experience making cabinet doors i dont know whether they will warp and to what extent?
If you have any experience making doors out of single slabs of wood please let me know what to expect, and if there is anything i can do to prevent the doors from warping.
Replies
No actual experience, but this is an interesting question, so please forgive the speculation.
If you think about it, this is only one step removed from a tabletop, and the same techniques that keep them flat will help your doors.
You have identified half the problem - warping. This will inevitably occur with the use of solid timber. You can reduce this by ensuring the slab is at equilibrium with the environment before milling, but it will be a problem in any environment where humidity changes often (say the USA)
Your other problem is expansion and contraction across the grain, which will mean reveals will vary or the doors will bind.
This is why frame and panel doors were invented.
As to the extent of warping, it will depend on the slab. If you have a piece with the pith in it and are using one side, then it will be quarter-sawn and very stable. If you have a piece from higher or lower in the log then it will curl some no matter what you do.
As Rob said, this is exactly why frame and panel doors were invented.
Look at historic examples of doors. I can't think of any that use single slabs in this way. There were a variety of methods, but the frame and panel was the solution for wood movement, both warping and expansion and contraction.
Mid century modern styles use slab doors. But that style evolved, in part, because of the availability of plywood, and that's how their doors stayed flat.
Assuming the grain runs lengthwise the doors are 45cm wide, you could rip a 9 inch + wide strip from the slab, resaw 4 veneers from the strip and make your own plywood by using the 4 veneers book matched on either side of a Baltic birch plywood core or a solid wood panel core like Krenov.
Issue 145 has an article by Christian Becksvoort on keeping plank doors flat. Andrew Hunter had one recently using dovetailed battens that could also apply.
Solid wood is fraught with issues: cupping, bowing, shrinking, expanding. It also depends on application. An overlay door gives you some wiggle room, and inset door would be the worst scenario.
That said, I've seen old kitchens with solid wood doors that employ battens to keep them flat. Through acclimated, dry wood is the key.
That said, have you thought about veneer? With the right veneer, you can really make a piece stand out.
Don't let worrying about what might happen stop you. Nobody's perfect on the 1st try, so experiment.
Best of luck,
Mikaol
This bed headboard is 10 ft long and 14 inches wide, 1 inch thick and has not cupped or curved in two years, going from 65% relative humidity in summer to 25% in winter. Your doors should do fine.
Thank you for all the replies, I took a look at the article in #145 and will be putting in dovetailed keys, i was thinking about a similar approach from the start but didn't know if this would be effective.
Thank you all for the replies again. :)
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